


Ring of Fire

by Whiteblue5



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Has PTSD, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy has PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25994713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whiteblue5/pseuds/Whiteblue5
Summary: Allison wants to go on vacation, Klaus knows a place and Five learns that he is not alone.Outside Luther and Diego had stopped their game of fouls and had joined Allison and Vanya, discussing whether Vanya’s powers included bubble bath making. Klaus presented them the sangria à la Klaus with a flourish. When he went to restock Five, he noticed something odd...
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 6
Kudos: 347





	Ring of Fire

V

_This could be worse_ , Number Five thought, while watching his siblings make a fool out of themselves. He was lying on a sunbed next to a swimming pool, a piña colada with a bright orange umbrella in his hand.

In the pool Luther and Diego were playing some kind of volleyball game on steroids, of which the main goal seemed to be to hit the other in the face. Klaus was coaching from his pool float, yelling and pointing with gusto. Allison and Vanya were sitting on the edge, laughing with each other and pretending the huge waves trying to knock the others over wasn’t Vanya’s doing. Five supressed the smile that was threatening to appear on his face. _Idiots._

The sunshine was warm on his skin, but it didn’t bother him that much at the moment. His black polo was starting to stick uncomfortably to his skin however, but he didn’t really want to take it off. He’d already seen Allison stare with something looking suspiciously like worry when he’d changed out of the uniform into the clothes she and Klaus got him. If she already thought his arms were on the thin side, he didn’t really want her to know his ribs were countable. He didn’t need her mothering. He was a 58-year-old man for god’s sake and doing _fine_. It was only logical that his appetite was not the same as when he was an actual 13-year-old. Nevertheless, he missed the uniform right now for reasons he didn’t want to examine.

It was Allison’s idea to go on a ‘vacation’. She had been in a good mood that day, coming back from visiting Claire, declaring that they deserved a break after averting multiple apocalypses. A break had sounded so ridiculous to Five’s ears that he had laughed. Her enthusiasm had slowly infected the rest of the family though and soon enough the Hargreeves family was packed into a minivan. Five had agreed begrudgingly, on the condition that he drove to Klaus’s “I know a place’.

Watching Klaus get drenched by Vanya’s wave, Five felt something weird in his chest. Something light and warm, making his ever-calculating brain a little quieter. His eyes were starting to feel a little heavy. He couldn’t remember the last time he had fallen asleep without any effort, but he wasn’t really trying to think. There was a nice warm haze all over him. After setting his drink aside, he closed his eyes for just a few seconds, letting himself feel maybe a little content for a moment.

IV

Insulted that his coaching talent was being rudely ignored, Klaus clambered out of the pool gracelessly. He went inside the mansion to get them all more drinks. While humming along the radio, he fabricated a loose interpretation of sangria. Nobody had complained about his bartending skills so far, not even the resident grumpy grandpa. So Klaus had not yet lost his overconfidence.

Outside Luther and Diego had stopped their game of fouls and had joined Allison and Vanya, discussing whether Vanya’s powers included bubble bath making. Klaus presented them the sangria à la Klaus with a flourish. When he went to restock Five, he noticed something odd.

Five was mumbling under his breath, his body twitching slightly. His nails were pressed in his palms so hard, Klaus worried he might hurt himself.

Risking his hands being separated from his wrists, Klaus slowly removed Five’s sunglasses with the caution of someone defusing a bomb. Five was _sleeping_. But his slumber didn’t look peaceful at all. Five’s forehead was beaded with sweat and if his eyebrows got anymore scrunched together, they would fuse.

‘Er, Vanya?’ Klaus asked, feeling slightly panicked, not knowing what to do with a Five that was not all stoic and condescending.

Noting his distressed tone, the others quickly left their spot to crowd around Five’s sunbed.

“What’s wrong with him?” Luther asked without any subtilty.

‘Maybe he’s having a nightmare?’ Vanya suggested.

Beneath his eyelids Five’s eyes were moving around restlessly. Klaus thought he could hear a stream of softly whispered “no’s”.

“Should we wake him up?” Allison said uncertainly.

Diego, having no braincells and self-preservation as usual, dumped a glass of water on Five’s head.

Five’s eyes shot open, looking around wildly, but they were unseeing. His expression morphed into one of genuine despair. Klaus had never seen such an emotion on Five’s face before and he hoped he would never see it again.

“No, no, no!” Five yelled, his voice on the verge of breaking. Five looked directly at Klaus, but saw something else. Klaus’s heart hurt. Five tried to retreat further back into the seat, his hands shooting upward to defend himself.

“Leave me alone! You’re dead! I’m sorry…”

“Shh, shh, Five... It’s okay…” Allison whispered softly, arm outstretched as to comfort him, but unsure if that would better or worsen things. Diego was looking guilty and upset and Vanya had tears in her eyes. Luther looked lost.

Klaus had an idea of what was going on. He had seen it with the guys in the war and he’d heard Ben describe it when Klaus himself had been lost in his nightmares.

“Five, you’re not there.” Klaus said calmly, drawing the eyes of his siblings. They didn’t really need to look so shocked, thank you very much.

“What are you seeing?”

Just before Klaus thought enough time had passed to repeat his question, Five answered.

“Fire… and ash…death… It’s too hot!” Five started to dig his nails in his skinny arms.

“I think he’s hyperventilating.” Vanya said quietly.

Very slowly Klaus took one of Five’s hands and placed it directly over his own beating heart.

“We’re alive, Five. Living and breathing. Please breath with me.”

Touching Five seemed to have the opposite effect, but after a few tense moments Five started to match Klaus’s deep breaths. Klaus felt Allison squeeze his shoulder in support. A small part of him hoped Ben would be proud of him. Klaus knew his approach was working when he could see recognition form in Five’s eyes gradually. The wild desperation morphed slowly into mortification. Five looked at each of their siblings and a different sort of panic took over. He disappeared in a flash of blue.

“Shit.” Luther said.

“I guess we’ll have to go look for him now.” Diego mumbled, sounding like he was not happy at the prospect. Remembering the impossible task of defeating Five in Hide and Seek, Klaus could sympathize. When Diego passed Klaus, he punched him in the arm.

“Well done, bro.” he said earnestly.

“My greatest pleasure.” said Klaus, rubbing at the assaulted spot, but also feeling a little touched.

Well, time to find the unfindable.

V

Shame burned hotly through Five. It did not help that he was already sweating form the weather and the remnants of the flashback. His hair was plastered to his forehead, from sweat or something else he didn’t know. He had no idea where he was, but the stone tiles were blessedly cool. He pressed his face against them, not daring to close his eyes.

This was his fault for letting his guard down. Now his siblings knew he was weak. He could taste the iron from chewing on the inside of his mouth. He needed to do something, to _fix it_. But what it was that he needed to fix, he didn’t really know. Time and time again proved he knew so, _so_ very little.

He took Vanya’s book out of the pocket of his swim shorts. Allison had told him he wasn’t allowed to bring it, saying a vacation was for _relaxation_. “ _The apocalypse is over, Five.”_

Turning over the pages, he was relieved he hadn’t listened. He had already figured out the calculations for perfecting a time rewind of 30 seconds and he was fairly certain he could manage to jump their family 10 days back in time. But what if that wasn’t enough to save his moronic family, so inclined to make world ending decisions? What if he needed 40 seconds or two weeks, or a year? He scratched the back of his neck hard and started to rewrite the calculations. He could not feel vulnerable or scared if he was working.

His first jump away from his siblings had taken him to the kitchen, where he’d stolen a drinking pitcher filled with red liquid before he’d blinked again, bringing him here. Five hoped the alcohol percentage was high. It had an interesting combination of fruit and tasted bizarre. But the apocalypse had beaten any pickiness out of Five, so he chugged half of it. He almost choked on a big piece of grapefruit, sending him into a coughing fit.

“Five?”

 _Klaus._ Five froze. He had no idea how long he had been here, writing down mathematical formula after formula. He was not ready to face his siblings yet, probably not ever. He could blink somewhere else, a place like this must have a wine cellar somewhere. Five tried to muster up the energy to rip space apart, but he was so tired.

A blue little girl with pigtails, calmly holding her entrails, walked through the wall. Even with the life Five had lived, he thought the sight was rather morbid.

“Hi.” she said cheerfully to Five and “He’s here.” to the wall.

She smiled kindly at him, making Five feel all wrong. She stayed with him until a door opened and she flickered out of this plane of existence. Klaus sauntered inside and Five felt his insides twist and his face heat up again.

“None of that! None of that!” Klaus said, waving his hands around dismissively. He sat down beside Five.

“You think you’re the only one with issues? Broer, this whole family was raised on them, we were fed issues for breakfast. It would be weird if you didn’t have any.” Then his voice took a more serious tone.

“I didn’t know you had PTSD, but it makes a lot of sense, I guess.”

“I do not.” Five said defensively, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears. Klaus had an infuriatingly accepting smile on his face. Five wanted to wipe it off.

“You know, there once was a hedgehog, which was friends with a pigeon. The hedgehog was stuck in a tree and didn’t know that the pigeon had been hit by a police car and had to have his wings amputated.”

 _“Klaus!”_ growled Five, getting ready to stuff a piece of cantaloupe up Klaus’s nose.

“Relax, old man! I just meant to say… you’re not alone."

“I get them too sometimes, you know, taking me back to fighting in the war. And Dave…” Klaus trailed off, a wistful expression on his face.

 _Oh._ Five was at a loss for what to say. He was exceptionally bad at this. Contrary to popular belief, Five did care about the feelings of his siblings.

“Sorry.” It came out forced and strangled, but Klaus didn’t look hurt.

“You don’t have to be. You don’t even have to fix anything.” Klaus glanced at Vanya’s book, which had math scribbled in every unprinted space.

“Just being there is enough. Luther, Diego, Allison, Ben…” he paused to press his fingers to his lips and hold them towards the sky. “…Vanya, you and me, we all have our issues, some more visible than others. But we’re in this mess together, all right?”

Five didn’t answer, but the knot in his stomach had loosened a little.

“That’s the stuff!” Klaus moved his hand as if he wanted to ruffle Five’s hair but seemed to think better of it. A wise decision if he wanted to keep breathing oxygen. Meanwhile Klaus nimble fingers had closed Vanya’s book and Five had only noticed when he’d felt the weight of it slide into his pants pocket.

“Come on, old man! Let’s let the baby brothers and sisters know they can stop searching and still be girl scouts singing around the campfire. And don’t keep all the good booze for yourself.” Klaus took a swig from the drinking pitcher and spat it out immediately.

“Or maybe do keep it for yourself. Whoever said tomato was a fruit, was lying trough his teeth.”

 _A campfire…_ Five dug his nails in the hair on the back of his head. He had probably made more than 50.000 campfires in his life. He didn’t know why this one would be any different. Klaus gave him a sideway glance.

“Or, if you want to do something else, that’s marvellous too! We can go play table tennis, badminton or King’s Cup?” 

“Campfire is fine” Five grumbled. He got up and straightened his clothes. Five wished he could erase the memory of Klaus making sure his apple green speedo was still covering everything.

“You okay, short stack?”

“You know your sangria tasted like Luther’s socks after a mission, right?”

Klaus gasped and clutched his heart dramatically, but winked at Five as he opened the door.

They left the supply closet Five had chosen as his refuge and found their way back to the garden. The sun had already set, lowering the temperature to more comfortable degrees. Apparently Klaus had sent out ghosts to brief their siblings, because they were already gathered around a fire place.

Diego and Luther were attempting to get a fire started, looking like the very first cave men trying to accomplish such a thing. Rolling his eyes so hard that he almost got eye strain, Five pushed Diego to the side. He rearranged the logs, tinder and kindling in a way so that they would actually catch on fire.

“Try again.” Five ordered.

“Hi Five.” Vanya said kindly. She patted a patch of grass next to her, gesturing for him to sit next to her.

After donning a poncho over his swimwear and handing out marshmallows on sticks, Klaus plopped down between Five and Allison. Half an hour and a couple of colourful swears later, a fire was crackling merrily and Luther and Diego sat down as well. Diego had conjured a guitar from somewhere, because of course he had, the big, soft moron. A collective groan went through the group, but when Diego started playing, it actually didn’t sound half bad.

Even though the evening air was cool against his skin, Five felt his hands and neck getting sweaty. His gaze kept getting pulled into the flames. It was hard not to imagine all those other days and nights staring into the fire, with only Dolores and silence next to him. The end of the world as gruesome décor. Bigger fires had been raging in the background, bringing more devastation to a world already charred. In his mind fire equalled death and destruction.

He felt someone’s knee press softly against his. _Vanya._

Klaus touched his right hand tentatively and moved Five’s fingers around until they rested on Klaus’s pulse point. Five could feel his own hammering heartbeat slow down to a rhythm more similar to Klaus’s.

After humming along to Diego’s tune for a couple of minutes, Allison started to sing a song Five had never heard before.

Five wanted to say something caustic, scare off the softness he didn’t need or deserve, but the words were stuck in his throat, cut off by emotion.

Because _this was it._ This was what he had fought for. What he wanted for so, _so_ long. He couldn’t remember the amount of times he’d sat alone by a fire, wishing for his family to sit next to him. And now they were here.

Five swallowed thickly and watched his siblings. Diego was trying to match his playing with Allison’s singing with a very serious expression on his face. Luther was roasting 16 marshmallows at once and Klaus was doing complicated dance moves only using his feet. Ben was not here, but according to Klaus and Vanya, Ben had finally found his peace and had moved on. Vanya had her eyes closed, listening to Allison’s singing and was seemingly content in the moment. Even Five had to admit the song was very beautiful, Allison’s voice giving it a haunted but at the same time hopeful feel. Even the flames seemed to move with the music, their dancing a heartbeat on its own.

Maybe Five was wrong about fire. Right now, it didn’t feel like death or a means to an end. Right now, with his siblings laughing and breathing, the flames felt more like life. And it was time to start living it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!
> 
> I had no specific song in mind writing this, just the general feeling of the moment. If it made you think of anything, let me know!


End file.
